1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope system in which a capsule endoscope is inserted into an organ of a subject, such as a patient, to acquire image data of the inside of the subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of endoscopes, capsule endoscopes having imaging function and wireless communication function have appeared. A capsule endoscope system is proposed in which images of the inside of organs of a subject are captured with such a capsule endoscope, the images are successively received by a receiving device, the images of inside of the subject received thereby are successively displayed by a image display device such as a workstation, and thus, the inside the body of the subject are observed (examined).
In such a capsule endoscope system, a capsule endoscope is swallowed from the mouth of a subject, such as a patient, for observation (examination). While traveling through the inside of organs such as the stomach and the small intestine due to the peristaltic motion until the endoscope is naturally excreted, the endoscope successively captures images of the inside of organs (hereinafter, also referred to as in-vivo images) of the subject at predetermined intervals. The capsule endoscope wirelessly transmits the in-vivo images successively to a receiving device that is carried by the subject (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-19111).
The in-vivo images transmitted by the capsule endoscope are successively received by the receiving device carried by the subject, and successively stored in a storage medium in the receiving device. Then, the storage medium in which the in-vivo images are stored is detached from the receiving device and inserted into a display device, such as a workstation. The display device acquires the in-vivo images of the subject via the storage medium and displays on a display the in-vivo images of the subject thus acquired. Users, such as a doctor and a nurse, successively observe the in-vivo images displayed on the image display device and diagnose the subject.